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(m), v.[imp.Might (mt)] [AS. pres. mg I am able, pret. meahte, mihte; akin to D. mogen, G. mgen, OHG. mugan, magan, Icel. mega, Goth. magan, Russ. moche. 103. Cf. Dismay, Main strength, Might. The old imp. mought is obsolete, except as a provincial word.] An auxiliary verb qualifying the meaning of another verb, by expressing: (a) Ability, competency, or possibility; -- now oftener expressed by can. How may a man, said he, with idle speech, Be won to spoil the castle of his health ! Spenser. For what he [the king] may do is of two kinds; what he may do as just, and what he may do as possible. Bacon. For of all sad words of tongue or pen The saddest are these: "It might have been." Whittier. (b) Liberty; permission; allowance. Thou mayst be no longer steward. Luke xvi. 2. (c) Contingency or liability; possibility or probability. Though what he learns he speaks, and may advance Some general maxims, or be right by chance. Pope. (d) Modesty, courtesy, or conce May n.[Cf. Icel. mr, Goth. mawi; akin to E. maiden. 103.] A maiden. [Obs.] Chaucer. May n.[F. Mai, L. Maius; so named in honor of the goddess Maia (Gr. ), daughter of Atlas and mother of Mercury by Jupiter.] 1. The fifth month of the year, containing thirty-one days. Chaucer. 2. The early part or springtime of life. His May of youth, and bloom of lustihood. Shak. 3. (Bot.) The flowers of the hawthorn; -- so called from their time of blossoming; also, the hawthorn. The palm and may make country houses gay. Nash. Plumes that mocked the may. Tennyson. 4. The merrymaking of May Day. Tennyson. Italian may (Bot.), a shrubby species of Spira (S. hypericifolia) with many clusters of small white flowers along the slender branches. May apple (Bot.), the fruit of an American plant (Podophyllum peltatum). Also, the plant itself (popularly called mandrake), which has two lobed leaves, and bears a single egg-shaped fruit at the forking. The root and leaves, used in medicine, are powerfully drastic. May beetle, May bug (Zol.), any one of numerous species of large lamellicorn beetles that ap スポンサード リンク
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